Ex Libris

Grade: 5 stars

Novellus perfectus!

Goodreads appetizer: Secretly wanting her—no problem. Her not-so-secretly wanting him—big trouble.

There’s only one problem with the woman Jason “Mac” Gordon wants: his best friend’s little sister is off limits. Way off limits, and too young and innocent for the likes of him. From past experience, he’s learned to hide his not-so-nice preferences from the nice girls he seems to attract. That definitely includes the woman he’s always thought of as a sister. At least until recently.

Sara Bradford always gets what she wants—which is partly Mac’s fault. After all, he helped spoil her. So she has no intention of taking his no for an answer on anything—least of all his refusal to sleep with her. He thinks she’s too innocent? Fine. She’ll simply get un-innocent and show Mac that she wants him—the good, the bad and the nipple clamps.

When Mac’s plan to drive her away works too well, he’s forced to follow her to a tropical paradise, determined to make sure she doesn’t find her wild side with anyone but him. Once she gets a real taste of what he likes, he’s sure everything will go back to normal.

That’s until he discovers a slight kink, er, flaw in his logic…

Warning: Contains hot sex at the beach, kinky online shopping—and yes, cotton-candy-flavored body powder does exist.

My Thoughts: With Just My Type we have arrived at Book #3, the final instalment of the Bradfords series and the one I have discovered this series through. I've read Just My Type not knowing it was the final instalment of the series, but since the novels are stand alone stories, I was not lost without having read the previous two books (but I would recommend reading the series in order just for the additional details one can appreciate if the characters from previous novels make an appearance).

Just My Type is Sara's story. Sara is the baby of the family: not only her older sister and brother have coddled her and made her life easy and protected, but their friends, Sam's macho guy friends made Sara's every wish and whim come true, she is the princess of "the litter", everyone's baby. So it's understandable that after some time at around 23 she has had enough of it and wants to be taken seriously and treated as an adult. And most of all she wants Mac, one of her brother's  best friends (who is also 13 years her senior) to see her as a woman. Little does she know that Mac has been fighting his attraction to little Sara for some time now, because not only is she like a little sister to him, but he knows Sam would skin him alive and then kill him if he touched his little sister. And if those two weren't discouraging enough, he is 13 years her senior and he likes sex kinky and sometimes rough. Which simply does not go together with little Princess Sara. Well he couldn't be more wrong...

If Erin Nicholas didn't give such deep and layered characterisation of Sara, she would have been a very irritating blond bimbo, Paris Hilton-like heroine and it would have been so easy to hate her, but instead we see that behind the maze of the blond pink princess glaze there is so much more: Sara is a young woman who has never been able to spread her wings and try herself out at things, she never had to make efforts, to struggle through hardships, her family and friends out of love for her made everything for and instead of her, and seeing her side of the story the reader can understand how oppressing and frustrating this can be.

Mac is simply a delicious hero: he has been Sara's protector and whipped boy since she was 13, he loves her just as much as if she were family, and it's this deep love and affection for her that makes his actions and reluctance to start anything romantic with her so endearing. Mac, the tough womanizer becomes a gentle puppy when it comes to Sara, there is absolutely nothing he wouldn't do for her.

Just My Type is a fantastic romance: it is funny and sweet with its big share of steaminess and heartwarming scenes, and it is so much more than a simple romantic story between the hero/heroine: the reader gets to know Sara as a young woman and sees her transformation and blossoming independence and maturity. This series shows friendships and sibling relationships in depth as well, and what I love is the perfect balance between light and funny and deep and heartwarming.

I'm so sorry to see this series end, I enjoyed every minute I spent with the Bradfords and if there were some cousins and friends, whose stories Erin would tell, I'd be the first to sign up, I just got to love Dooley, Ben, Sam, Sara and Mac and all the others so much, they are a great bunch of characters, and I would love to revisit them again. But until then I'll have my re-reads, and for you it's time to discover the Bradfords series, you'll be in for a treat! (Oh and I couldn't leave without mentioning the cotton candy flavoured body powder, it just sounds yummy, I want one! :-p)

   

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